Hair-tapering attachment for clippers



March 8, 1955 o. E. LARSEN 2,703,450

HAIR-TAPERING ATTACHMENT FOR CLIPPERS Filed April 19, 1954 INVENTOR. I 05cm? 5 LA/asE/v JIWW United States Patent HAlR-TAPERING ATTACHMENT FOR CLIPPERS Oscar E. Larsen, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application April 19, 1954, Serial No. 423,910

4 Claims. (Cl. 30-202) This invention relates to an attachment for hair clippers and has for an object to provide simple and improved means to guide hair clippers to facilitate tapering of the hair, particularly at the back of the head.

Tapering the hair at the back of the head with hair clippers is an exacting operation that requires considerable skill, mainly because the clippers must be moved with great expertness with only the guard of the shear blade either in contact with the head or in close proximity thereto. The guard being the only part that can be rested against the head, there is no point of fulcrum or leverage available to the user to aid in proper control of the clippers for accurate tapering of the hair.

Accordingly, it is another object of the invention to provide novel means embodying a movable fulcrum around which hair clippers may be moved in a hair tapering operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a hair clipper, a movable fulcrum of simple and novel form.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawing merely shows and the following description merely describes, preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of hair clippers provided with a hair tapering attachment according to the present invention and shown in operation.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of said clippers and attachment.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view of a modification.

The drawing in Fig. 1 shows the outline of the back of a head 5 and the nape of the neck 6, the same being the areas with which the hair clippers embodying the present improvements are operatively associated.

In the main, the hair clippers illustrated constitute a conventional device in that the same comprise an elongated body 7 in which is housed the usual motor for reciprocating a cutter 8 relative to a guard 9 fixedly carried by the end of said body. It will be seen that the above-described device provides nothing that may be utilized by the user to guide a proper hair tapering movement of the tip end 10 of guard 9. All that can be done is to place the guard flat against the head or the nape of the neck and then, using the base edge 11 of said guard as a fulcrum, tip the clipper toward the head to move the guard tip away from the head while simultaneously moving the clippers in an upward path. The result of such an action is a short oscillating stroke that must be repeated time and again and requires great skill. Therefore, it is quite difiicult to produce the same taper in all portions of the hair.

The present tapering attachment comprises guide roller means 12 at the toe or base of guard 9, a tracking roller 13 to engage the head 5 or neck 6, as the case may be, means 14 to impart tracking movement to roller 13, spring return means 15 for roller 13, and a stop block 16 for said roller.

The roller means 12 comprises a relatively small roller 2,703,450 Patented Mar. 8, 1955 17 that is mounted on brackets 18 so as to be adjustable toward and from the guard plate 9 and also toward and from the tip 10 of said guard plate. Thus, roller 17 can be adjusted as desired and, since the same can freely roll when applied to the back of the head, the movement of the cutting end of the clippers is rendered smooth.

The roller 13 is relatively much larger than roller 17 and is normally held by spring means 15 in adjacency to roller 17, as shown in Fig. 2. Roller 13 is preferably provided with a serrated surface 19 that is adapted to track on the portions 5 and 6 of the head and neck as il e clippers are moved upwardly, as in the position of The means 14 is provided to insure tracking rotation of roller 13. In Figs. 1 and 2, said means 14 is shown as a soft or resilient pad 20 into which serrations 19 may impinge in the manner. shown (Fig; 1). In Fig. 3, said means 14 is shown as a serrated member 20a. By means of pad 20 or member 20a, roller 13 has substantially the same rotational movement relative to clipper body 7 since said pad and member serve to gear said roller to the body. Consequently, each time the clippers are given an upward stroke, the stroke is the same as the previous stroke all around the back of the head.

The spring means 15 not only holds the roller in mesh with means 14, but serves as light means that, after being tensioned by tracking movement of roller 13, returns said roller to its initial position adjacent to roller means 12. In the form shown, spring means 15 comprises spiral springs 21 on opposite sides of body 7 and preferably housed in pockets 22 formed in the sides of said body, or by spaced plates afiixed to the body sides. By anchoring the inner ends 23 of springs 21 to the body and connecting roller 13 to the ends 24 of the outermost convolutions of springs 21, said roller 13 is etfectively mounted to move as above indicated.

The tracking movement of roller 13 is limited by stop block 16.

Since the present improvements limit the end positions of roller 13 relative to body 7, the clippers 8 and 9 can be moved uniformly in hair tapering strokes around the head. It will be noted that roller 13 constitutes a fulcrum that moves while the clippers are being moved. Consequently, the clippers can be moved through a long stroke in a smooth manner that progressively moves the clipping tip 10 away from the head and, thereby, tapers the hair.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what are now contemplated to be the best modesof carrying out the invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is, therefore, not desired to restrict the invention to the particular forms of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifilcations that may fall within the scope of the appended c aims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A hair clipper having a body and a stationary cutter member at one end of said body, said cutter member having a front and a trailing end, a first roller mounted at the rear end of said cutter, pocket means in each side of the body, a spiral spring in each said pocket and having a free end extending outwardly of the pocket and terminating in a trunnion, a second roller mounted on said trunnions, a serrated plate mounted on the back portion of said body, said spring tensioning said second roller against said serrated member, and normally holding said second roller in abutting relationship with said first roller, said second roller being frictionally rolled away from said first roller when said clipper is in use.

2. A hair clipper having a body and cutting means at one end of said body, a first roller adapted to engage against the back of the head, a geared connection between said first roller and said body to track therealong toward and from said cutting means, resilient means interconnecting said body and said first roller for returning said roller to initial position after tracking movement along said body, and an adjustable second guide roller between the cutting means and the tracking roller, the relative positions of said first and second rollers determining the position of the cutting means with respect to the hair being clipped.

3. A hair clipper, including a first roller, a track for said roller mounted on said clipper, said first roller being in meshing engagement with said track to track along the side of said clipper said roller constituting a variable fulcrum around which the clippers are adapted to be tipped while tapering hair, means resiliently connecting said roller to the clipper, and a second guide roller between said tracking roller and the hair cutting end of the clippers, to act as a pivot point during the movement of said clipper.

4. A hair clipper comprising a housing, having a front portion and a back portion, a fixed cutter member having a front end and a trailing or rear end, a first roller rotatively attached to the rear end of said fixed cutter member, two spiral springs mounted on two sides of said housing, each of said spiral springs having a spring extension terminating in a trunnion, a serrated second roller mounted on said trunnions, said spiral springs normally holding said second roller in an abutting relationship with respect to said first roller, a tracking member mounted on the back portion of said housing, and extending from said first roller through at least one half the length of said housing, said springs normally pressing said second roller against said tracking member, and a stop member at the end of said tracking member for stopping the extent of the travel of said second roller along said tracking member when said clipper is moved from its initial hair-clipping position to its final hairclipping position, said second roller being rolled on said tracking member by frictionally engaging the skin of a person Whose hair is being clipped, from the first roller toward said stop member when said clipper is manually advanced from said initial position toward said final position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,233,202 DIorio July 10, 1917 1,364,559 Kaufman Jan. 4, 1921 1,705,552 Bauer Mar. 19, 1929 2,590,684 Clark Mar. 25, 1952 2,677,178 Daggett May 4, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,603/28 Australia May 24, 1929 

